


there's no antidote for this curse

by zadonis



Series: the brotherhood of yuta's traveling handcuffs [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Shower Sex, that's like very minimal but it happens, this one is definitely fluffier than doten but less than jaeyong because there's mentioned sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 05:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13968600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zadonis/pseuds/zadonis
Summary: yuta's sure that those handcuffs must have some magic on them--they have a one hundred percent success rate of the couple cuffed together falling in love. and then, he finds himself cuffed to johnny, and he wonders if the handcuffs still have some of their magic left





	there's no antidote for this curse

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from ever since new york by harry styles (as all the titles in this series have been from harry styles songs) Please enjoy!! there's not enough johnyu (is that their ship name?) in this fandom, so I wrote this

Now that the group had two couples that had been brought together by Yuta’s handcuffs, Yuta himself was beginning to wonder if they had some magical powers. Taeyong and Jaehyun were at least more subtle with their relationship, only occasionally holding hands or being affectionate in front of the other members. Meanwhile, Doyoung and Ten were still all over each other, sitting in laps, whispering, holding hands and trading kisses in clear view of the members.

It was obvious that the handcuffs had certainly played a role in the formation of each of those relationships. Doyoung still threatened to cuff members together, which was a frightening thought considering that everyone knew how Doyoung and Ten used the cuffs in bed. Everyone blamed Yuta since he was the one that started all of the mess with the handcuffs, and he spent a lot of time trying to keep out of Doyoung’s sight.

Doyoung was looking for any opportunity to cuff Yuta to someone else. He made his hunt a clear objective.

Hiding in his room only did so much. He was sure one of his roommates would reveal his hiding spot to Doyoung because they were getting tired of Yuta constantly being in the room, though neither of Winwin nor Jeno wanted to be cuffed to Yuta.

One day Johnny had been arguing with Doyoung all day, trying to convince him that cuffing members together wasn’t going to solve any more issues.

“It’s just a coincidence that it worked on you two and those two!” Johnny told him, wrestling Doyoung’s wrists away from his own. Yuta watched from the safety of his doorway, ready to duck back inside at a moment’s notice. “You’re just trying to be a menace. There’s no one else in the group with unresolved sexual tension, so just stop waving those things around as a threat.”

Several times throughout the day, Yuta heard Johnny trying to pick up the argument again. Sometimes others chimed in, like Haechan who had very, very briefly been chained to Mark before a manager made Doyoung uncuff them due to their conflicting schedules. Johnny’s argument was overwhelmingly the loudest, and Yuta found himself perking up to listen from behind his bedroom door every time.

Later that evening as the dorm began to settle, Yuta heard a shout from the direction of the living room followed by a second shout that sounded like Doyoung. Footsteps pounded through the dorm. Doors slammed open and shut, and then, abruptly, Yuta’s door was thrown open.

He almost fell off his bed, rushing to hide in case it was Doyoung busting in to cuff him.

The door closed, Yuta heard the lock click into place.

Johnny stood with his back pressed to the door, legs and arms spread as if to keep the door shut, and the familiar handcuffs glimmered from one hand. “I stole them from him,” Johnny explained, tossing them over into Yuta’s lap. “Take them and hide them. They were yours to start out with, so you take care of them.”

Yuta had just enough time to stuff the handcuffs under the blanket covering his lap before there was a fist knocking roughly against the door.

“Johnny hyung!” Doyoung called through the door. “Give them back! I know you’re in there!”

Johnny grinned. That was a sharp, dangerous look on his face, but Yuta found it so handsome. His heart trembled in his chest, both from the exhilaration of knowing Doyoung’s hold on the handcuffs was gone and the trust Johnny had just placed in him, the fire he’d ignited with that look on his face.

Doyoung hit the door again. “Open the door!”

Johnny’s smile burned, and he reached down to turn the lock on the door. He nearly flew across the room in the next instant, landing on the edge of Yuta’s bed and composing himself before Doyoung could step inside. Johnny looked as if he’d been relaxing on the bed for hours.

Doyoung squinted at him, and Yuta noticed his cheeks were flushed with anger.

“What do you want, Doyoung?” Yuta asked.

“He stole them.” Doyoung pointed at Johnny. “I was just joking about handcuffing him to Taeil hyung, but then he grabbed them and ran.” He turned his accusatory glare on Johnny again. “Where are they?”

Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Doyoung-ie. Why would I want you and Ten’s gross sex toy for?”

Doyoung frowned, looking adorably angry. Yuta bit at his smile and looked at his tablet.

“You’re on thin-fucking-ice, Johnny Seo.” Doyoung growled. “Watch your back.”

As Doyoung turned to storm out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him, Johnny laughed, “Watch your tone, mister! I’m older than you!” There was no response except for his own laughter echoing back from the walls. Johnny fell flat on the bed, tilting his head to the side so he was looking at Yuta.

“He’s not going to forgive you easily for this,” Yuta told him. He reached beneath the blanket and pulled the cuffs back out into the light. “Here they are, do something with them.” He flung them at Johnny’s stomach, but Johnny pushed them back across the bed toward Yuta.

“They were yours to start with,” Johnny said. “I don’t even want to know why you had them, but take them and hide them or something. But I suggest you sanitize them first. I’m really not joking about what nasty things I think they’ve done with them. Ten likes to treat me like his diary sometimes, so I’ve heard a few of their sex stories—“ Johnny shivered. “I’ll never be able to think of either of them in the same way.”

Yuta wrinkled his nose as he picked the cuffs up with the tips of his fingers and dropped them into the top drawer of his bedside table. “Why does everyone assume I had them for a weird reason?”

“Why else would you have them if not for sex?” Johnny sat up.

Yuta watched him comb his hair back out of his eyes, and he fought the urge not to sigh. Johnny was attractive, no one could deny that.

“That’s what Taeyong and Jaehyunnie asked me too.” Yuta said. “Does everyone in the group think I’m kinky in bed?”

Maybe he imagined the color that stained Johnny’s cheeks and the quick once over, but Yuta hoped that he didn’t. He liked the flush of heat that soaked through his body at the thought that Johnny was maybe checking him out, imagining Yuta in bed. If asked, Yuta wouldn’t deny that he had a crush on Johnny, but no one asked, and Johnny didn’t seem to like Yuta in that way, so he kept it to himself.

Johnny didn’t answer Yuta’s question. He stood and left the room without another word.

Yuta sank down in his bed until the blankets were up to his chin and he tucked his smile against the cotton sheets. The room still smelled like Johnny’s cologne, and Yuta closed his eyes, imagining that Johnny was still there with him.

\- - -

Yuta woke the next morning to the sound of someone moving around in the room. He knew Jeno could be a restless sleeper, and Winwin had a tendency to trip over things if he woke up to go pee, but this noise seemed to be a bit different than either of those regular noises. He blearily opened his eyes.

The room was still mostly dark thanks to the thick curtains over the room’s window, but still Yuta could see a dark shape leaning over his bedside table, pulling things out and dropping them unceremoniously onto the floor. He blinked and licked his lips, drawing his mind out of the fog of sleep, trying to make sense of the situation.

By the time he had his thoughts together enough to realize what was happening, it was too late.

Doyoung let out a pleased huff when he tugged the handcuffs out the drawer.

“Doyoung?” Yuta asked, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the other two boys in the room. “What are you—No!”

He felt the cool metal twist around his wrist and then the click of it as it fastened into place. When he pulled his wrist, it came too easily, and it was then he realized that he wasn’t cuffed to anyone or anything; Doyoung had simply locked it around his wrist.

“Why did you do that?” Yuta tried to squeeze the cuff over his hand, but it was too tight.

“Oh, nothing,” Doyoung whispered in a sing-song voice. “But you can’t get it off, and I still have the key. Deal with it, hyung.”

Yuta reached out into the darkness and pushed at Doyoung’s face. “Go away, then. I’m trying to sleep.”

A moment later he heard Doyoung’s retreat and the soft sound of the door closing again. Yuta waited a moment, trying to work the cuff off, but it was no use. It really wasn’t going to come off without the key. He rolled back over in bed, pushed away all thoughts of Doyoung and plans for revenge. Yuta dozed back off to sleep.

When he woke again a few hours later, morning light broke through the chink in the window’s curtains. The bedroom door was open a crack, and waking sounds came inside that meant that others were up and about. Yuta rolled out of bed, pulled on a sweatshirt, swore as he stubbed his toe against a chest of drawers, and he hopped out of the room on one foot, already in a bad mood.

The sound of Doyoung’s voice when he reached the kitchen only served to remind Yuta that he was actually in an even worse mood. He remembered the handcuff and being woken in the middle of the night. As he walked past the younger boy, he pinched his ear and pulled. Doyoung whined and slapped at Yuta’s hand.

As if Doyoung had sent out a distress call, Ten appeared from the hallway, bogged down in clothes that were too large to belong to him, and he hurried over to Doyoung, pressing his hands to his boyfriends cheeks and offering to fight Yuta. One look at Yuta quelled any of Ten’s fighting spirit.

Yuta prepared himself a liquid breakfast (coffee with enough sugar and milk in it to drown out the flavor), and then he returned to his room, which was a habit he’d picked up by avoiding Doyoung.

An hour later, more of the dorm was awake. Winwin yawned and stretched, and climbed out of the top bunk to curl up in Yuta’s single bed and steal the almost cold remnants of his coffee. Yuta pulled up an anime they’d been watching recently, and for a while they stayed just like that, curled together on his bed, watching anime and begging anyone that passed by the open doorway to bring a refill on their coffee.

Yuta almost forgot about the handcuff on his wrist.

 _Almost_ forgot.

When Johnny brought a refill of coffee, Doyoung trailed him into the room. Yuta thought for sure that Doyoung had come to apologize or to remove the cuff, so he ignored him and reached first for the mug Johnny had brought for Winwin.

Johnny froze when he saw the silver metal. “I thought you were supposed to hide that.”

“I did hide it. Some one found it.” His gaze flicked to Johnny’s right where Doyoung stood. He passed the mug behind him to Winwin, pet his hand over Winwin’s head as the younger boy snuggled further into Yuta’s side, and then he reached for the second mug.

As soon as his hand closed around the mug, Doyoung’s hand darted out, snatched the open end of the handcuffs and summarily closed it around Johnny’s wrist with a _snap_ that Yuta swore echoed through the entire dorm. By some miracle, he didn’t drop the coffee right then and there, but he held on tightly.

“Doyoung,” Yuta’s voice was a strained form of calm. “You piece of shit.”

The younger pulled his hand away. His face was stuck in a wide grin, and Yuta just wanted to punch the expression off his face.

Johnny sighed and moved their joined arms toward the bedside table. He eased Yuta’s fingers from around the mug and set it down on the surface. Winwin paused the anime and pulled away from Yuta’s side.

“Hyung, why did you do that?” Winwin asked Doyoung.

Doyoung started for the door. “Because they plotted against me. That’s why.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Doyoung, really?”

The younger shrugged.

Yuta, displeased about the turn of events and extremely ready to hit Doyoung, stood up from the bed and would have raced after him if he didn’t have the weight of Johnny anchoring him to the spot.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Yuta said, almost spitting in anger. “He broke in here and searched through my stuff while I was sleeping and put one cuff on me before I was fully awake. And now he does this? Johnny, let me go.” He stood as tall as he could, but Johnny was taller still, and the look in his eyes sent a sudden rush of calm through Yuta.

“Let’s just go talk to him,” Johnny reasoned. “Maybe we can talk him down. Or I can convince Ten to give us the key.”

His voice was level, cool and convincing. Yuta found himself agreeing, forgetting all his burning anger from just a moment before, lost in Johnny’s charisma. He turned back to Winwin who was still wrapped up in the bed.

“Winwin, I’m sorry. We’ll finish this some other time, okay?”

He nodded and grinned as he said, “Go kick Doyoung hyung’s butt.”

Johnny laughed. His hand brushed over the nape of Yuta’s neck, and it took all of his strength to resist a shiver, to lean into the touch.

Less than ten minutes later, all the members were gathered in the living room. Yuta and Johnny sat together on one sofa, taking up the entirety of it (Yuta glared at anyone who came near them). People were avoiding the second sofa after what Taeil claimed to have walked in on the previous week, so most of the group settled on the floor, looking up at Doyoung who had taken over the role of leader temporarily since he was the one who controlled the handcuffs, and because, after five minutes ago when Johnny and Yuta emerged bound together, Taeyong had decided that he wanted nothing more to do with anything relating to the handcuffs.

“Let’s set out some rules,” Doyoung proposed, pacing a bare section of the floor. “I’ve listened to all of your complaints over the past weeks, and I remember the difficulty Ten and I experienced.” Yuta rolled his eyes at the heart-eyes and hand kiss Ten sent Doyoung. “If you recall, absolutely none of you wanted to help _us_ out. We had to be sewn into shirts every morning, he had to learn and practice new choreography cuffed together, and we were together for much longer than anyone else. But I’ve listened.

“Things were difficult for us, so I’ve adjusted the rules.” He said, turning again to lay his eyes on Yuta. Yuta held his gaze, daring Doyoung to go on. “You will be released from the cuffs to dress and shower. For major public appearances, they will be removed. In the event of practices or actual performances, the handcuffs will be removed. At all other times, they will be worn until the group decides unanimously, and without coercion, that the two individuals in question should be released.”

Kun whispered something to Jeno who laughed loudly, but instantly clapped a hand over his mouth when Doyoung turned to him.

“Is this a deal? Does everyone agree?” Doyoung swept a look around the room.

Yuta followed his gaze, watching as each member nodded their heads. He noticed none of them met his gaze. Of course, they’d all agree when they weren’t in the handcuffs. But even Johnny nodded.

“Can we take a vote now?” Yuta asked. “Who thinks that Johnny and I have no reason to be handcuffed together, and Doyoung should hand over the key right now?”

He raised his hand into the air and arched an eyebrow at Doyoung, but the younger man didn’t respond as he sank down to the floor with Ten, curling his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders.

When hands started to rise, Yuta’s smile turned victorious. All of the Dream members raised their hands, Jungwoo and Lucas, too. Taeil, Jaehyun, Winwin, Kun, and even Ten raised their hands into the air. Of course Doyoung didn’t twitch a muscle to vote yes, but stared at Yuta in challenge.

To Yuta’s shock, Taeyong kept his hand in his lap.

“I think it was you that started all of this,” Taeyong explained. “It’s time you get a taste of your own medicine, Yuta. Just for a little while at least.”

Suddenly hands were dropping, members nodding in agreement. Yuta was livid, but he couldn’t even storm away like he wanted to.

“Well, Yuta,” Johnny laughed. “My bed or yours?”

\- - -

Yuta didn’t see the purpose of keeping them cuffed together. They didn’t argue at all. He and Johnny were on good terms, and in all the time they’d known each other, Johnny had never done something that was bad enough to make Yuta forget his crush on him. Even with this situation, there was nothing about him that irritated Yuta. And they were given brief spurts of time away from each other. Doyoung uncuffed them each morning so they could shower and dress, then he slipped the cuffs back on them. Johnny made sure of it, though Yuta had tried more than once to slip out of the dorm, but he was always caught before he could reach the door. At night, they were given another chance at freedom to shower and undress, but at the moment, there was little else to let them be uncuffed.

The worst part was that NCT Night Night apparently didn’t qualify in Doyoung’s rulebook as a major public appearance, meaning that Yuta had to go with Johnny and Jaehyun. Taeyong had somehow been lucky enough that he never had to go to the studio with Jaehyun while they were stuck together, but Yuta was beginning to think that his cuffs had turned a curse on him since he’d originally owned them, and they turned every opportunity for good luck to bad.

No one at the station blinked an eye when Yuta appeared at Johnny’s side. They took it in stride, set an extra chair for him at Johnny’s side, and put a microphone there for him to speak into. They were seated before the guests arrived, and no one seemed to notice that they were cuffed together. Not at first, anyway.

Yuta thought that maybe, after the first day, his bad luck had settled. Now he was living with average luck, although, he supposed, it was good luck that he was handcuffed to Johnny rather than anyone else. It’s not like anyone in NCT had an aversion to skinship or anything, no problems with sharing beds when the occasion arose. But the fact stood that Yuta and Johnny weren’t very likely to just share a bed for any old reason. Now they had a fairly decent reason, and Yuta was loving every bit of it.

They stayed in Yuta’s room after determining that his bed was just a bit bigger than Johnny’s. The first night it took them a while to find a position to sleep in where their arms weren’t twisted in uncomfortable angles. Yuta did end up kicking Johnny’s legs a few times in the night, but the next time they figured out a better position with Johnny laying half on top of Yuta; one of Johnny’s legs tossed over Yuta’s as he slept on his belly. Yuta wouldn’t complain because Johnny was a warm blanket-substitute and he cuddled. Yuta slept well like that, for long hours, deeply dreaming.

None of that mattered only four mornings into this handcuffing when Yuta was rudely woken up.

“Hyung,” a voice whispered and fingers touched Yuta’s cheek. He flinched away from the touch, but blinked his eyes open. Winwin crouched at the side of the bed, his face close to Yuta’s. “Yuta hyung, wake up.”

“What is it?” Yuta asked, feeling a muted alarm sending adrenaline pumping through his sleepy veins. “What’s wrong?”

Winwin shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. I want to watch anime.”

“Really?” Yuta asked, his eyes already drifting closed again. “It’s early, Win. Go back to bed.” He wasn’t Winwin’s dad, and Winwin wasn’t a little kid who needed to be entertained. Plus, Yuta had been dreaming a really nice dream where Johnny was there, and nothing sexual had really been happening, but the more Yuta woke up, the more he could tell he was half-hard against Johnny’s thigh which was slung over Yuta’s hips.

“Hyung, please. We haven’t got to hang out since the other morning.” Winwin stroked over Yuta’s cheek when his eyes began to close again. “Yuta hyung, wake up.”

Johnny shook awake, his free hand going to his face with a soft groan. “What time is it?”

When he opened his eyes, he seemed to notice Winwin and his close proximity to Yuta’s face. “Oh. Winwin. What are you doing awake?”

“We were just talking.” Yuta said, reaching a placating hand out to Winwin who’d opened his mouth as if to make a fuss. “Winwin, go back to sleep. Or maybe later, okay? I’m sorry, but I’m tired and it’s still early.”

Winwin stood up and quickly left the room, but the line Yuta had seen growing between the younger’s eyebrows didn’t sit well with him. He made a silent promise to himself that he’d set aside a small part of his day later to spend with Winwin. But for now, he was less distracted by the lure of dreams and more the sudden disappearance of Johnny’s heat from Yuta’s skin.

Johnny was sitting up against the wall on the other side of the bed. When Yuta opened his mouth to ask why Johnny had so suddenly moved, Johnny nodded toward Yuta, eyes flicking for just a second toward Yuta’s crotch. Yuta felt his cheeks flood with heat.

“We can go wake up Doyoung-ie and ask him to uncuff us for morning showers,” Johnny cleared his throat. “I’ll shower first and you can do, uh, _whatever_ in the meantime.” He glanced from Yuta’s face back to his crotch and then out the open door that Winwin had left open just a few seconds before.

Yuta considered for a moment making a cheeky comment, suggesting that they could save water and shower together or any other number of innuendos that flashed through his mind at that instant. Instead, he nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Doyoung threw the key at them when they asked him for it, and the irritated noises of a half-asleep Ten growled from somewhere in the nest of blankets and pillows. Johnny quickly unlocked them and fled to the bathroom. Yuta had lost the memories of the dream, and Johnny’s lackluster reaction to feeling Yuta’s semi-erect member had certainly killed his mood. He went in search of Winwin, found him sitting in Taeyong and Jaehyun’s room, and pulled him back to their room to watch anime until Johnny emerged from the shower again.

\- - -

That night, NCT Night Night’s guests were the members of Blackpink who were finally making a comeback. Yuta sat, as usual, in his seat beside Johnny, and he greeted Blackpink the same as the other two DJs did. They were livestreaming it as well as being on air, and their fans had a lot of questions that Johnny and Jaehyun and Yuta took turns asking the four girls, but after maybe half an hour, Blackpink had a question for the DJs.

“I just have to ask,” Lisa leaned forward, pointing a finger between Johnny and Yuta. “For my own curiosity and for anyone watching this, why are you two handcuffed together?”

Yuta’s arm twitched almost involuntarily. Johnny chuckled, but his smile was a bit forced. He raised their joined arms and Yuta wanted nothing more than to hide their arms out of sight again.

“It’s a funny story. They’ve been like this all week, but you’re the first to notice, or at least the first guest to say something about it.” Johnny said. He rested their connected arms on the desk. Yuta tried to pull them back down beneath the table, but Johnny nudged him with his elbow and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

“I’m sure it has to be a funny story. You’re so calm about it.” Rosé said.

Jaehyun reached for his microphone and scooted forward. “Sometimes our members get in arguments with each other, and as a joke or little punishment for fighting, we handcuff them together until they work it out,” He explained. “Honestly, it all started with Doyoung hyung and Ten hyung, but we worked around it.”

“That’s why they wore handcuffs that day!” Jisoo laughed, “I was wondering why, but when I asked Doyoung, he only said that it was a part of your choreography.”

“Yeah. This is just a silly little lesson for us.” Yuta said, jerking Johnny’s arm up with his. He leaned in to his microphone and said, “It’s had a one hundred percent success rate for us, but we don’t suggest you handcuff yourself to siblings, friends, or a significant other unless you both agree to it.”

The girls laughed, and the interview continued on as normal.

Yuta tried to pretend that now he didn’t feel the handcuffs burning like a brand. He could feel the eyes of every viewer on the other side of the livestream trying to catch sight of the handcuffs. He knew that the story and screenshots must already be circulating online. Tomorrow morning headlines on websites would be talking about NCT’s problem-solving handcuffs.

He didn’t even notice when the interview was over until the members of Blackpink were standing and shuffling out of the studio. A woman came in and shut off the camera. Jaehyun even stood and started getting ready to leave.

“Yuta?” Johnny tugged at their handcuffs. “Are you alright? You ready?”

He nodded. “I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.”

Johnny nodded too. He waited until Jaehyun had moved around them and was almost out the door when he asked, “Were you thinking about Winwin?”

Jaehyun paused at the door.

Yuta wrinkled his brow in confusion. “What?”

“Were you thinking about Winwin? You like him don’t you, like, this morning that’s what that was about, right?” Johnny asked.

Yuta panicked at the words leaving Johnny’s mouth. First he checked to see that there were no cameras on in the room, and then to see that the sign that read ON AIR was off, and then he glanced through the window across the desk to see if anyone out there was watching or listening. All things came back with the answer he was looking for, but he was still panicking.

Johnny thought he liked Winwin? Worse yet, Johnny seemed to think that Yuta had been turned on that morning by Winwin. The clear expression in Johnny’s eyes right then as Yuta searched then showed that he truly believed that Yuta had a thing for Winwin.

Part of Yuta wanted to laugh. The other part wanted to just tell Johnny that he didn’t like Winwin in any way other than friendship. A third part of him shouted that he couldn’t do that second thing, because then Johnny would wonder why Yuta had been in such a state that morning, and it was only one small leap and bound from that to realizing that Yuta was like that because of Johnny.

“Yuta?” Johnny asked again, and his hand fell onto Yuta’s thigh, warm through the denim. Yuta almost choked on his tongue. He had to say something.

He knew Johnny’s Japanese comprehension wasn’t anywhere near the level it should’ve been (they’d done promotions in Japan, he should’ve known more than just a greeting.) Yuta swallowed and glanced away from Johnny, looking at the shape of the microphone in front of his mouth, Jaehyun watching curiously, frozen at the door. He checked again to see that the ON AIR sign was not on, and he couldn’t hear any sign of his breath echoing from the side of the headphones that still covered his ear. Paranoia over being overheard by anyone that might understand what he was about to say sent his heart spiraling.

Johnny watched him expectantly. “Well?”

Yuta caught Jaehyun’s eyes. The younger boy had the audacity to wink and smile one of his full-faced, wrinkly-eyed smiles, then he left the room. The studio door clicked shut behind him, leaving Yuta alone with Johnny. He sighed.

In Japanese, Yuta said, “I don’t like Winwin. I like you, Johnny.”

“What does that mean?” Johnny asked, frowning. “I’m no good at Japanese, Yuta.”

Yuta shrugged, and the heat coloring his cheeks helped his story a bit, when he said in Korean, “It’s supposed to be a secret, Johnny.”

\- - -

Yuta guessed he hadn’t done enough to dissuade Johnny’s incorrect belief that Yuta was crushing on Winwin. Now Johnny took every opportunity to invite Winwin to join them, which pleased the younger boy, but it was starting to get on Yuta’s nerves. Sometimes he just wanted to spend the time alone with Johnny.

One evening after getting back to the dorm from NCT’s Night Night, while Johnny showered, Yuta slipped inside Taeyong and Jaehyun’s room.

Taeyong startled, but Jaehyun looked up as if he’d almost been expecting Yuta. They were just laying in the bed, each scrolling through their phones, but Yuta still felt as if he’d intruded on a private moment. Jaehyun waved that thought away when he said, “Hey, hyung. What’s up?”

Taeyong sat up and pulled his knees up to his chest, making room for Yuta to sit on the bed.

Yuta cut straight to the point. “Does Johnny think that I’m just in love with Winwin?”

“Oh, that,” Jaehyun laughed and exchanged a look with Taeyong. “Yeah, I mean, you didn’t really set him right the other day, did you? I didn’t hear what you said, but he hasn’t been acting like you told him the truth either.”

“What do you mean ‘the truth’?” Yuta asked. “I mean, yeah, I answered him in Japanese, but, well, it’s not my fault he doesn’t understand it well enough to know that what I told him was very basic. He should know what I said, but if you didn’t hear me, then how can you possibly know what the truth is, Jaehyun?”

“That you like Johnny. That’s the truth.” Taeyong said, lightly kicking at Yuta’s thigh. “It’s pretty clear. It’s been clear for the past, oh, I don’t know, few years. If you saw the way you looked at him during practice, you’d know exactly what we’re talking about.”

“Like you were much better. Jaehyun was pining after you for ages before you opened your eyes, Taeyong.” Yuta folded his arms over his chest and bit his bottom lip. “I don’t know what to do, though. I can’t tell him. If you saw the way he reacted the other morning when...I mean, I don’t think he likes me.”

Both of the other men made noises of uncertainty.

“Johnny hyung doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve all the time. He grew up in America, and they taught him to keep his affections guarded. Slip under that armor, though, and you’ll get to see his real feelings for sure.” Jaehyun said. He nodded at the door. “Go talk to him. Be real. You might be surprised.”

Yuta stood up, and his heart was like a train in his chest, chugging along too fast for Yuta to catch up. He turned at the door to look back at Jaehyun and Taeyong. “I swear, if you two are wrong about this, I’m going to strangle you.”

“Promises,” Taeyong laughed. “Close the door on your way out.”

Yuta closed it tightly and pressed his back against it. He shut his eyes and sucked in a few breaths, trying to steady himself. He could hear the dorm buzzing with the other members. Voices sounded from behind doors, video game noises blared from the living room with Chenle’s high-pitched battle cries as he fought for victory. Under it all was the rushing of running water, a shower still going.

He didn’t give himself a moment to second-guess himself. Yuta knocked on the bathroom door and stepped inside.

“Johnny?” He asked, just checking to make sure before he started this.

“Yuta?” Johnny’s head appeared around the curtain. “What are you doing in here?”

He glanced at the toilet. It wasn’t too late to back out of confessing. He could claim he just needed the toilet. But Yuta wasn’t a chicken. He looked back at Johnny, noticing the beads of water on his cheeks, glomming his eyelashes together. His hair was swept back off his forehead, and Yuta was struck breathless by how handsome he looked.

“I want to talk to you about something.” Yuta cleared his throat. “It’s something I should have clarified a few days ago.”

“Okay?”

Johnny ducked back into the shower and Yuta sighed. He wasn’t sure if he could say this while facing Johnny. His heart was still like a full-speed train in his chest.

“You can talk while I finish showering, right?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah,” Yuta ran his hands through his hair. The steam from the shower was creating a problem with it. Smoothing it over with his hands gave them something to do other than shake from nerves. “So, you know the other day when you asked me about how I felt about Winwin?”

Johnny made a muffled noise of acknowledgement.

“What was my answer?”

Johnny peered back out around the curtain, frowning. “You don’t remember it? Or what?” Yuta waved, expectantly waiting for the answer. Johnny sighed, “You said you like him, but it’s supposed to be a secret. Right?”

Yuta sighed and bit his lip. He shook his head and stared at his feet. He couldn’t look Johnny in the eye when he said this. “That’s not what I meant when I said that. If you actually paid any attention in your Japanese lessons, you would know what I said.”

“Yuta,” Johnny’s voice was suddenly sharp. “Look at me.”

His head snapped up to meet Johnny’s gaze. Johnny crooked a finger at him and Yuta crossed the few feet between the door and the shower.

“What did you say to me in Japanese?”

Yuta closed his eyes. He was close enough to Johnny that he could feel the heat billowing out from around his body, smell the shampoo and body wash coming off his skin. In Japanese, he repeated his words from earlier that week, and at Johnny’s annoyed whine, Yuta opened his eyes.

They were eye-to-eye. The thundering in Yuta’s chest fell, his mouth went dry, and he let the words spring from his tongue before the foolish part of him roped them back in.

“I said, I don’t like Winwin, I like you, Johnny.”

In the moment following his confession, the running water was the only sound, rushing like static in his ears. He didn’t blink, Johnny didn’t look away, neither of them moved at all.

“You like me?” Johnny asked quietly after a moment.

Yuta twisted his mouth nervously.

“Like, you really like me?” Johnny asked.

Yuta nodded, “I really like you, Johnny. Like, the other morning, I woke up with a boner because I’d been dreaming about you. I have a crush on you, and according to Taeyong, it’s ridiculous that you haven’t noticed by now.”

Johnny’s fingers were wet when they dug through Yuta’s hair, his palms soaked Yuta’s cheeks, and he pulled Yuta forward.

Yuta tripped over the edge of the shower, stumbling forward, but Johnny caught him when they fell back against the wet tile wall.

Their mouths crushed together, tongues and teeth. Yuta touched every inch of Johnny’s bare skin that he could get his hands on. He didn’t care that the shower spray was soaking through his clothes or that the water was actually starting to run cold. Johnny’s head dropped back against the wall as Yuta kissed down his throat and slowly sank down to his knees.

Johnny’s knees shook and he sank down to the shower floor, pulling Yuta against his chest. He hesitated only for a minute before sliding his hand inside Yuta’s soaking pants and getting a hand around him. Johnny kissed him through it, swallowing any of the sounds that he made.

The water ran cold over their bodies, but the heat burning through Yuta from this confession made it so that he didn’t mind the water for the time being. He was fine with leaning against Johnny, letting him hold his weight.

“Those handcuffs must be cursed,” Yuta sighed. “A one hundred percent success rate in the couple ending up together. There’s no way that’s just a coincidence.”

Johnny nosed down Yuta’s throat, pressed a kiss against the hollow there. “Maybe they’re just magical. Or our members know us all well enough to know that if we’re forced to face our problems, our feelings will be revealed.”

Yuta reached up and tangled his fingers in Johnny’s hair. “So you really like me?”

“Yeah,” Johnny leaned in until their foreheads touched. “I really, really do.”

\- - -

They went to Doyoung to have him cuff them back together once they were out of the shower. If he noticed that both of them had soaking wet hair and flushed cheeks, he didn’t say anything, but neither did he cuff them immediately. He stepped out into the hallway, gestured for someone down the hallway, and before Yuta knew what was happening, the whole group seemed to be squeezing into Doyoung and Ten’s little room.

Doyoung glanced back at them with narrowed eyes.

Yuta took a step back and clenched his hand at the back of Johnny’s shirt.

“Everyone,” Doyoung said, standing up on the bed so he could be clearly seen and heard. “I’ve gathered you together today to call a vote on if Johnny hyung and Yuta hyung should still be cuffed together. Who says let them go?”

As sixteen hands raised, Yuta let out a breath before raising his own. Johnny followed suit. Doyoung clapped his hands together and stepped down off the bed. Ten appeared and slid his arm around Doyoung’s waist, pulling his ear down so that he could whisper something into it. Doyoung smiled and nodded.

“That’s it. You can all go now.” He turned to Yuta and Johnny. “That includes both of you. I’m tired of you disturbing my sleep, so there, you win. Now you’re not handcuffed together anymore. But if you ever try to steal the handcuffs from me again,” He turned his gaze on Johnny who stared back, daring Doyoung to come up against him. Johnny had his height on his side, and he could probably easily beat Doyoung in a fight. Doyoung nodded and stepped back. “That’s all.”

Yuta didn’t let go of the back of Johnny’s shirt. He tugged him along the hall to his room, and when he saw that neither Jeno nor Winwin was in there, he closed the door and locked it. He pushed Johnny onto his bed and got on top of him.

“We have a lot of lost time to catch up on.”

Johnny grinned. “Yeah, we do.”

\- - -

Weeks passed where they met in secret to hook up, not yet ready to make their relationship public to the other members. They met in the shower, in practice rooms, in the hallway outside the dorm, on Yuta’s bed when no one else was around, or Johnny’s if nothing else. Only Jaehyun and Taeyong knew, but they kept quiet. Yuta noticed that Taeyong did his best to corral the other members away when Yuta and Johnny wanted some time together, and Jaehyun was good at distracting Winwin from anime long enough that Yuta and Johnny could at least mess around quickly.

It was weeks before the handcuffs surfaced again. Doyoung threatening to use them against Haechan, and the younger boy begged Yuta to do something about it.

“Hyung, you love me right? Protect me from him.” Haechan asked, trying to use Yuta as a human shield.

Johnny stepped in then, pulling Yuta away. “Actually, it’s me that he loves, and we promised Doyoung to stop interfering with the handcuffs.”

All of the members around them turned to gape, surprised at this relationship coming to light. Within the hour, the news had spread to the members that weren’t at the dorm, and that night Yuta wasn’t sure how many members told him that they hadn’t seen that coming at all. Several members requested that with all the new relationships being formed within the group, the roommate situation should be switched around. As they sorted that out, Jisung was still in disbelief that yet another couple was formed.

“Seriously?” Jisung asked, “Really, how many members are in love with other members? How many of us aren’t straight? It’s all coming out now! If you’re into someone just say it now!” He shouted into the dorm. “Everyone will know sooner or later!”

“Na-Na!” Jeno cried dramatically, teasing, throwing his arms around the other boy. “I love you so much!”

Jaemin laughed and pushed at Jeno.

Yuta had to admit, when he first broke out the handcuffs to settle the annoying spats between Doyoung and Ten, he never thought this was where he would end up.

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't the end (unless you want it to be) I still have at least one more of these planned! Please leave kudos and comments, let me know what you thought (especially if you think things seem too sudden, or if you notice any mistakes I made). Your comments, lovely ones and critical ones, really inspire me to keep this series going!


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